The Premier League weekend continues on Saturday when six of the seven scheduled fixtures take place with us having lost one due to the Manchester City involvement in the Club World Cup. It is a huge day at the top of the table too.
This is a typical Saturday in the UK even though we are closing in on Christmas. We have TV matches to enjoy at the beginning and the end of the day and then the four 3pm games come along with updates in the usual places.
Early Kick Off
The action begins at the London Stadium where West Ham United will be looking to bounce back from their shambolic exit in the Carabao Cup in midweek when they take on a Manchester United who will be looking to build on their solid point at Anfield last week. West Ham will know they need to give a positive showing after the mess they delivered on Wednesday night while Man Utd will be looking for a rare away win against a side in the top half of the table. Things could be very interesting at the London Stadium.
3pm Matches
There are four matches in the traditional 3pm slot on Saturday and they all have an impact on the bottom of the table. Burnley dropped to the bottom of the pile on Friday night and they will look to come off it when they head to the capital to take on a Fulham side who are suddenly rampant and who should be on a high after their Carabao Cup quarter final win in midweek. Luton Town are the other side in the bottom three. They will be on the pitch for the first time since the cardiac arrest of their captain Tom Lockyer on what is likely to be an emotional afternoon at Kenilworth Road. A stuttering Newcastle are the visitors to Bedfordshire.
Nottingham Forest have dropped to just one place above the relegation zone and they will begin life without Steve Cooper when they entertain the form side of AFC Bournemouth in the first game in charge for Nuno Espirito Santo. The other match sees two sides who have had good recent runs meeting in the capital when Tottenham Hotspur play host to an Everton side who have already wiped out their 10 point deduction and will be looking to kick on from here.
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Late Game
The action concludes with the pick of the matches on the day as the top two heading into the weekend meet when second placed Liverpool welcome the leaders Arsenal to Anfield. The winners of this match will be top of the pile at Christmas which is always a significant achievement. This is the fixture that the Arsenal title challenge began to fade in last season so they will be out to show that they are better now than they were then. Liverpool stumbled against Manchester United last week but might well go title favourites if they can come out on top in this one. There have been some good games between these two down the years and this has the potential to be another.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of the afternoon with the first of them coming in the form of Luton Town to beat Newcastle United on the Asian handicap. You can get a reasonable price on the Hatters with a goal start which means that should they lose by one goal you would get your money back. If you took the -1 on any Luton home game this season you would still be waiting to cash as Luton are yet to lose by more than one goal even though Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City have been to this part of the country already this season. Newcastle have only won one away game on their travels this season and while that was the emphatic 8-0 win at Sheffield United, they are clearly chalk and cheese away from home to how they play at home. The Magpies also have to bounce back from a midweek setback and could have done without Kenilworth Road being emotionally charged like it will be. I think Luton get something from this game but the respective home and away form so far would suggest there is little risk on this line.
The other bet I like is for AFC Bournemouth to come out on top of Nottingham Forest without the draw in play. Prior to last week, Bournemouth were being spoken about as being in similar form to Liverpool and they had just got back into the game against Luton when that distressing incident happened and I think they can build on that when they go to the City Ground where Nottingham Forest are expected to have a new manager bounce but I’m not convinced they will get that. Nuno does have a good record first up at clubs but he will still be without his best striker for this match and the team might need a week or two to get to grips with the different style. Bournemouth look to be finding their groove under Andoni Iraola and if there is a winner here it can be them.
Tips
Back Luton Town (+1AH) to beat Newcastle United for a 3/10 stake at 1.74 with Unibet
Back AFC Bournemouth (0AH) to beat Nottingham Forest for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Bet365
